The Frogsichord is the name Charlemagne Palestine gave a green harpsichord in which the tones are based on the relationship between lengths that pass through similar spaces. Such a space can have any shape. Choose a shape, draw a line through it and choose a length somewhere on this line. Name this length 1. If the space changes in size, the selected length, surface area and volume of that space change. When the length becomes 2 times as long as length 1, the surface becomes 4 times as large and the volume 8 times as large. When the surface area becomes twice as large, the length becomes √2 times as long as length 1 and the volume becomes 2√2 times as large. When the volume becomes 2 times as large, the length becomes ∛2 times as long as length 1 and the surface area ∛4 times as large. To show this, I chose a potato and cut out a fries. This fries has length 1, the unit of measurement. If the potato has a surface area that is twice as large, the fries is √2 times as long. The potato with a 3 times larger surface area has a fries that is √3 times as long as the first fries. And if the area is twice as small the fries is 1/√2 times as short. If the potato is twice as large in volume the fries is ∛2 times as long. And with a volume that is 3 times larger ∛3 times as long. With a volume that is twice as small 1/∛2 times as short. The length ratios …1/√4 1/2), 1/√3, 1/√2, 1, √2, √3, √4 2), √5, √6, √7, √8 2√2), √9 3) √10…. with respect to length 1, develop loosely in space. I call this method of measurement minimal measurement. I apply it in my buildings. For example, a diagonal through a space can be the width of something elsewhere in the building. Frogsichord has 2 keyboards, each with 55 tones. The tones of the upper keyboard originate from area related length series 1, √2, √3 … up to √40 2√10) and 1/√2, 1/√3 … up to 1/√16 1/4). The tones of the lower keyboard originate from volume related length series 1, ∛2, ∛3… up to ∛40 2∛5) and 1/∛2, 1/∛3… up to 1/∛16 1/2∛2). The string corresponding to length 1 can have any tone. For convenience, string 1 is tuned at 440Hz. Both on the upper keyboard and the lower keyboard. The √2 string is tuned at 440Hz : √2 ≈ 311,12698Hz. The √3 string at 440Hz : √3 ≈ 254,03412Hz. The √4 string at 440Hz : 2 = 220Hz. The 1/√2 string at 440Hz x √2 ≈ 622,25396Hz. The ∛2 string on the lower keyboard is tuned at 440Hz : ∛2 ≈ 349,22823Hz. The 1/∛2 string at 440Hz x ∛2 ≈ 554,36526Hz. And so on. The tones sound different than you are used to. You do hear that there is a connection between the tones. The next tone is predictable. Frogsichord was built during 2010 and 2011 by Martin Bezemer. John Körmeling, Eindhoven 2019.

Harpsichord, idea by John Körmeling, build by Martin Bezemer.
John Körmeling (b.1951, Amsterdam) studied architecture and is, like Le Corbusier, Melnikov and Rietveld, a free-thinker. He designs architecture at whose heart lies mobility and individual freedom. As a young artist seeking a foundation for his artistic choices, John Körmeling was inspired by numerical proportions such as the Golden Section. Fixed proportions of length and number became his fundamental aid when sketching and drawing up building plans. Like a contemporary, postmodern Pythagoras, he designed his own music (based on square roots) in accordance with this mathematical axiom, which he called ‘minimal measurement’. With a characteristic irony, this paradigm has run like a thread through all his architectural designs and installations.

Special cuddly edition limited to 200 hand numbered copies in artificial fur cover.